A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing meaningful feedback, and by being a reliable source for accountability. Trainers also conduct a variety of assessments beginning with a preparticipation health-screening and may also include assessments of posture and movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular fitness, body composition, and skill-related parameters to observe and gather relevant information needed to develop an effective exercise program and support client goal attainment.
A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many countries, a person can claim to be a nutritionist even without any training, education, or professional license, in contrast to a dietitian, who has a university degree, professional license, and certification for professional practice.
Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally incorporates areas of physiology, psychology, anatomy, biomechanics, biochemistry, and kinesiology.
Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the late 20th century that sports medicine emerged as a distinct field of health care. In many countries, now over 50, sports medicine is a recognized medical specialty. In the majority of countries where sports medicine is recognized and practiced, it is a physician (non-surgical) specialty, but in some, it can equally be a surgical or non-surgical medical specialty, and also a specialty field within primary care. In other contexts, the field of sports medicine encompasses the scope of both medical specialists as well as allied health practitioners who work in the field of sport, such as physiotherapists, athletic trainers, podiatrists and exercise physiologists.
Circuit training is a form of body conditioning that involves endurance training, resistance training, high-intensity aerobics, and exercises performed in a circuit, similar to high-intensity interval training. It targets strength building and muscular endurance. An exercise "circuit" is one completion of all set exercises in the program. When one circuit is completed, one begins the first exercise again for the next circuit. Traditionally, the time between exercises in circuit training is short and often with rapid movement to the next exercise.
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) promotes sports medicine education, research, communication, and fellowship and includes national and international orthopaedic sports medicine leaders. The Society works closely with many other sports medicine specialists, including athletic trainers, physical therapists, family physicians, and others to improve the identification, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries. Formed in 1972 as a forum for education and research with 100 members, the AOSSM today has to more than 2,000 members.
The American Society of Exercise Physiologists is a non-profit professional organization for exercise physiologists. Founded in Minnesota in 1997, its vision is to establish board-certified exercise physiologists as experts in the application of "exercise as medicine" to benefit society. As the scientific body of exercise physiology has some overlap with athletics and sports training, the organization advocates for the unique contributions of exercise physiologists and attempts to enhance their public sector job opportunities.
Exercise prescription commonly refers to the specific plan of fitness-related activities that are designed for a specified purpose, which is often developed by a fitness or rehabilitation, or Exercise medicine specialist for the client or patient. Due to the specific and unique needs and interests of the client/patient, the goal of exercise prescription should focus on motivation and customization, thus making achieving goals more likely to become successful. Exercise prescription should take into account the patient's medical history, and a pre-examination of a patient's physical fitness to make sure a person has the capacity to perform the exercises.
A professional fitness coach is a professional in the field of fitness and exercise, most often instruction, including professional sports club's fitness trainers and aerobics and yoga instructors and authors of fitness instruction books or manuals.
Arthur H Steinhaus was an American physical fitness expert and sports physiologist.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise is a monthly peer-reviewed that focuses on research in the field of sports and exercise science. It was established in 1969 and is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins on behalf of the American College of Sports Medicine. The editor-in-chief is Andrew (Andy) Jones, Ph.D., FACSM.
The SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is a public medical school in Brooklyn, New York City. The university includes the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies and School of Public Health.
Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews is a quarterly peer-reviewed review journal covering sports medicine and exercise science. It was established in 1973 as a hardcover book series, and became a quarterly peer-reviewed journal in January 2000. It is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and is an official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. The editor-in-chief is Sandra K. Hunter, Ph.D., FACSM. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 6.642.
Michael Joseph Joyner is an American anesthesiologist and physiologist who researches exercise physiology. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he repurposed his lab and led the US Convalescent Plasma Program.
Josephine Langworthy Rathbone was an American physiologist whose research and work involved physical education and relaxation. She taught at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1930 to 1958, and was a founding member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Mary Kathryn "Katie" Haltiwanger Schmitz is an American exercise physiologist. She is the Associate Director of Population Sciences at Penn State University College of Medicine and a Full Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
David Christopher Poole is a British-American scientist who researches oxygen transport in health and disease focusing on the mechanisms of exercise intolerance.
Stefan M. Pasiakos is a U.S. physiologist specializing in diet and supplemental nutrition, muscle physiology, and human performance. He has served as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) office of dietary supplements since 2023. Pasiakos was previously chief of the military performance division at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
Barbara Lee Drinkwater was an American physiologist who specialized in sports physiology and was the first woman to be president of the American College of Sports Medicine (1988–1989). Prior to that, she also coached the Butler Bulldogs women's basketball team.
